'Israel won’t stop until Hamas is destroyed,' Netanyahu tells Putin in 1st phone since war began

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday evening, for the first time since the start of the war with Hamas.

Netanyahu told Putin that Israel was going to war determined and united, and would not stop until it had destroyed Hamas' military and governing capabilities.

Putin expressed his “serious concern about the likelihood of the conflict escalating into a regional war” to Netanyahu and other Middle East leaders in a diplomatic flurry of calls on Monday.

In addition to his conversation with Netanyahu, Putin spoke with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, the Kremlin reported.

Since the outbreak between Hamas and Israel on Oct. 7, Russia has condemned the violence on both sides and called for a ceasefire without issuing a clear condemnation of the massacre of Israeli citizens at the hands of Hamas terrorists.

Putin and Netanyahu once had relatively good relations, which have noticeably cooled since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Israel has stated its support of Ukraine without joining the NATO countries by providing military aid to Ukraine, despite repeated calls to do so.

In addition, Russia has established several military bases in Syria and Israel reportedly coordinates its air strikes against Iranian targets in the country with the Russian military.

On Monday, the UN Security Council rejected the draft of a resolution proposed by Russia that called for “an immediate, durable and fully respected humanitarian ceasefire” and condemned “all violence and hostilities directed against civilians and all acts of terrorism.”

Russia's condemnation of the violence and terrorism did not mention the terror group Hamas at all.

China, the United Arab Emirates, Mozambique and Gabon joined Russia in voting in favor of the resolution, which would have needed nine “yes” votes to pass.

The U.S., Britain, France and Japan voted against it, while the other six members of the council abstained.

At a summit in Kyrgyzstan on Friday, Putin cautioned that the siege of Gaza may come to resemble the German siege of Leningrad in World War 2, saying that Israel had been subjected to “an attack unprecedented in its cruelty” by Hamas and had the right to defend itself but was employing cruel methods in its response.

In response to the possibility of an Israeli ground offensive in Gaza, Putin stated: “The civilian casualties will be absolutely unacceptable. Now the main thing is to stop the bloodshed.”

He added that the current tragic situation resulted from the American failed policy regarding the Middle East.